Emergency power system



Mardl 1940- J. M. DANNHE|SE 2,194,822

EMERGENCY PDWER SYSTEM Filed April 24. 19:59

INVENTOR JOSEPH M DANNHE/SEE ATTORNEYS QQLQ I Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES EIVIERGENCY POWER SYSTEM Application April 24, 1939, Serial No. 269,590

2 Claims.

My invention relates to emergency power systems, and more particularly to a system for supplying stand-by or emergency power in case of failure of alternating current mains.

5 Among the objects of my invention are: To provide an emergency power system operating substantially without delay in case of power failure; to provide an A. C. emergency source in case of main line failure; and to provide a simple,

quick operating emergency A. C. power system for radio stations or similar power consuming apparatus requiring an A. C. source.

Other objects of my invention will be apparent or will be specifically pointed out in the description forming a part of this specification, but I do not limit myself to the embodiment of the invention herein described, as various forms may be adopted within the scope of the claims.

Usually, emergency stand-by equipment for supplying power in case of main power line failure has been of the D. C. type, because in most cases emergency lighting is the most important demand and direct current can be substituted for alternating current in incandescent lamps in a very satisfactory manner. However, there are installations of various characters operating from A. C. mains which cannot be supplied with D. C. power in case of main line A. C. failure. One of such installations, for example, is a radio transmitting station where alternating current is required, due to the fact that high voltages are necessary in the operation of the device, thereby requiring transformers and excluding the use of direct current.

35 Furthermore, equipment such as a radio transmitting station requires an uninterrupted power supply if service is to be continuous. For example, high powered radio transmitting tubes do not hold their frequency constant unless heat 40 dissipation is constant. Furthermore, electrically heated cathodes in radio transmitting sets are heavy and of large mass, and once a power failure has occurred, a length of time much longer than the actual power failure is required before the system can be placed in operating condition.

Thus, even a short A. C. power failure in a radio transmitting station will cause a much longer outage than the actual time the power is off.

For that reason A. C. generators standing by with internal combustion engines as driving power are not satisfactory because of the time involved in starting the engines and bringing them up to speed.

My invention provides for such immediate substitution of A. C. power sources that an attached power tubes do not have time to lose a suflieient holding coil 8.

PATENT OFFICE Ltd., San Francisco,

A. C. load is not affected, and in the case of a radio transmitting station the substitution of A. C. sources takes place so quickly that the amount of heat to cause any outage whatsoever. 5

My invention can be more readily understood by reference to the drawing having a single figure, being a simplified circuit showing one man ner in which my invention may be practiced.

All portions of the A. C. circuit are in light lines, 10 and all portions of the D. C. circuit are in heavy lines. For the sake of clarity, all control and monitoring circuits have been omitted, as well as overload releases and similar protective devices.

A. C. mains l, which may be of the threephase type if desired, energize directly, through a motor line 2, an A. C. motor 3 handled by the usual starting box 4. A. C. mains also lead to a three-pole automatic transfer switch 5, the three 20 blades leading through circuit 6 to A. C. load circuits 1. Transfer switch 5 is held in contact with the A. C. mains l by holding coil 8, and spring 9 throws the transfer switch onto A. C. generator line it when current failure occurs in 5 the A. C. mains and current is withdrawn from A. C. generator line l0 handles the output of A. C. generator H which is mounted on a base l2 and direct-coupled to a shunt-wound D. C. 3 generator-motor 13, preferably mounted on the same base. A. C. motor 3 is connected to rotate the coupled A. C. generator and D. C. generatormotor through a belt I4, or by any other conveni-, ent means such as being directly connected. Output-input circuit I5 of the D. C. generator motor leads to a storage battery bank [6 of several series units connected in series multiple, which also supplies a lighting load automatic transfer switch l1, similar in all respects to the 40 A. 0. load transfer switch previously described. The blades of this switch lead through circuit H! to the lighting load. A. C. lighting load circuit l9 connects the A. C. mains I to the lighting load through one side of switch I1, and the switch 5 blades are held there by lighting load holding coil 20. Transfer switch I! is thrown to the D. C. side by lighting load transfer spring 2| upon A. C. power failure.

The operation of my emergency power system is simple. Transfer switches 5 and I! are normally placed and held by holding coils 8 and 2| on the A. C. side, thus supplying lights and A. C. loads such as, for example, those of a radio transmitting station. At the same time A. C. motor 3 is started, rotating both A. C. generator H and D. C. generator-motor l3. Inasmuch as no load is taken under these circumstances from the A. C. generator, its rotor runs freely. D. C. generatormotor 13, however, is rotated by motor 3 at such a speed as to provide a charging overvoltage for battery it. For example, A. C. motor 3 may rotate D. C. generator-motor l3 as a generator at a speed of 2290 R. P. M. Thus, the batteries l6 continually being charged during the time that A. C. power is present in the mains l. Upon failure of the A. C. mains or upon dropping of voltage therein below the point where holding coiis 8 and iii no longer can hold transfer switches 5 and i! in the A. C. position, these transfer switches will be r leased and springs 9 and El will n diately connect the A. C. load a to the output of A. C. generlighting load direct to the stor- A. C. motor 3 will immediately ed, and the shunt wound D. C. will slow down until its output a 0; es less than that of the storage a, whereupon D. C. generator-motor l3 immediately start to run as a motor in the he direction, driving C. generator ll at a for exa p le, of 1800 R. P. M. A. C. genhowever, a generator designed to give full A. C. voltage equal to line voltage and the proper frequency at 1800 R. P. M., and the D. C. enerator-motor will continue to act as a motor applying emergency A. C. power by driving A. C. .cnerator ii to the C. load 7, until power is estored in mains i and the loads shifted back 0 the A. C. mains.

when power 0 in mains l, transfer switches 55 and i'] Ina again be th own back onto the A. C. side anu the loads pi mains, whereupon A. C. motor 3 is energized, D. C. generator-motor is speeded up again to 2200 R. P. Id, and again acts as a generator rging battery l3.

e found that the extremely short time of outage, namely, switches is a 1' only sufiicient for transfer to act, is too short a time for ed by the A. C. load to be affected, and in ti e case of the radio transmitting tubes the lmost instantaneous transfer from A. C. mains to A. C. generator is too small to cause a sumcient heat loss of any outage whatss-ever, and in fact the transfer occurs so quickthat it is impossible for the operator of the radio station, for example, to notice any more than a slight er when the transfer is made. The load bein placed on A. C. generator H at the same time A. C. motor 3 is tie-energized causes an almost instantaneous deceleration of D. C. generator-motor l3 to its motor speed, and the storage batteries pick up the load Without lapse of any appreciable time.

It will be distinctly understood that the circuits I have shown are simplified and do not show such protective devices such as for example switches that may be necessary to open the D. C. line under no-load conditions. However, such protective monitoring and control devices are well known to those skilled in the art and form no part of the present invention, the essence of the present invention being the automatic conversion of a shunt Wound D. C. generator operating at one speed to a D. C. motor operating at a lower speed in the same direction, driving an A. C. generator for emergency power use in case of A. C. power line failure.

I claim:

1. In a system for supplying emergency power to an A. C. load upon failure of an A. C. power line normally supplying power for said load comprising an A. C. motor driven from said line, a D. C. generator and a normally electrically open A. C. generator coupled together and driven by said A. C. motor at a higher speed than that giving proper A. C. line frequency, storage batteries normally and directly charged by said D. C. generator, and automatic means for shifting said A. C. load from said main A. C. line to the output of said A. C. generator when the main A. C. line voltage drops below a predetermined value, whereby said D. C. generator rotates in the same direction, as a D. C. motor directly energized from said batteries to drive said A. C. generator at a speed giving the same A. C. frequency to the load as the A. C. mains.

2. In a system for supplying emergecy power to an A. C. load upon failure of power mains normally supplying power for said load comprising a D. C. generator, storage batteries directly connected to the output of said D. C. generator, an A. 0. generator coupled to said D. C. generator, means for driving said D. C. and A. C. generators from said main line at a speed providing a D. C. charging current, and means for automatically connecting said A. C. generator to said main line in case of power failure therein and to connect said A. C. generator to said A. load, said D. C. generator picking up the load by continuing rotation as a motor at a reduced speed as determined by the voltage of said batteries, said A. C. generator being wound to give main line frequency at said reduced speed.

JOSEPH M. DANNHEISER. 

